Investigating the effect of nanoclay content on the mechanical characteristics of natural fiber epoxy composite

Abstract

The natural fibers have been recognized as the eco-friendly alternative for the synthetic fibers while preparing epoxy based polymer composite materials. Further, the nano-reinforcements have been acknowledged to be the better solution for enhancing the mechanical characteristics of the natural fiber based polymer composites. In this context, the present work investigates the influence of nanoclay reinforcement in luffa/epoxy (LE) polymer composite material at different loading fractions (0%, 1.0%, 2.0%, and 3.0%). The results revealed that the addition of nanoclay till 2.0% in LE composites had become more beneficial in terms of improvement in mechanical characteristics. However, the addition of nanoclay after 2.0% had ended-up in adverse effects due to the agglomeration of the nanoparticles. The highest percentage improvement in tensile, compression and flexural properties was observed as 20.0%, 18.69%, and 21.44%, respectively with the addition of 2.0% of nanoclay in LE composites. The percentage of enhancement in tensile, compression and flexural properties was suppressed by 6.44% 8.5%, and 8.32%, respectively with the addition of 3.0% nanoclay comparing to the previous fraction.